Sport racquets, such as tennis, racquetball, squash and badminton racquets, are well known and typically include a frame having a head portion coupled to a handle portion. The head portion supports a string bed having a plurality of main string segments interwoven with a plurality of cross string segments. Many racquets also include a throat portion positioned between and connecting the handle portion to the head portion. The typical string bed of a sports racquet includes a central region, that provides the most responsiveness, the greatest power and the best “feel” to the player, upon impact with a ball, and a peripheral region. The central region, commonly referred to as the “sweet spot,” is typically defined as the area of the string bed that produces higher coefficient of restitution (“COR”) values. A higher COR generally directly corresponds to greater power and greater responsiveness.
Generally speaking, the COR of a central region of a racquet will increase with increased string bed deflection and with increased dwell time. A string bed that can deflect more when impacting a ball can provide longer “dwell time”, the duration of impact between the ball and the string bed upon impact. The increased “dwell time” improves not only the responsiveness of a racquet, but also its control, including the ability to impart spin on the ball.
Some existing racquets incorporate a larger sized hoop portion supporting a larger sized string bed (i.e., a larger head size) in an effort to increase the size of the string bed and the sweet spot. However, as the head size of a racquet increases, so does the polar moment of inertia of the racquet. A racquet with a higher polar moment of inertia can be more difficult to maneuver, particularly at the net or upon return of serve, than a racquet with a lower moment of inertia. Additionally, some users find large head racquets to be more difficult to swing than racquets with normal sized heads.
Other racquets have incorporated different head shapes in an effort to increase the length of certain main or cross string segments, without increasing the size of all of the main and cross-string segments. Although such designs can provide a more targeted approach to increasing the performance of the racquet, such designs can also result in an undesirable increase in the polar moment of inertia of the racquet. Further, such designs may also result in a head size that has an undesirable appearance, or an appearance that is markedly different from the look and design of traditional sport racquet designs.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a racquet having a string bed with an enlarged sweet spot and providing an increased “dwell time,” without negatively effecting the overall performance of the racquet. It would be advantageous to provide a racquet with an enlarged sweet spot and an increased “dwell time” without increasing the polar moment of inertia of the racquet head and without negatively affecting the maneuverability of the racquet. It would also be advantageous to provide a means for targeting certain main and/or cross string segments in an effort to optimize the performance of a particular racquet design, without increasing the polar moment of inertia of the racquet head and without negatively affecting the maneuverability of the racquet. There is also a need for a racquet having a string bed with an enlarged sweet spot that is not a radical departure in look and design from traditional sport racquet designs.